My 78-Year-Old Legs Are More Reliable Than The New Chinese Buses On London’s 141 Bus Route
So we all know what we’re talking about, here’s a few pictures.
Note.
- The buses seem to have no serious faults from a passenger point of view.
- One middle-aged lady on the plump side, said she didn’t like the buses.
- The aisle between the front seats doesn’t seem to be built for large people.
- The seats are reasonably comfortable.
- One morning, I stood on a long journey and I felt the road-holding wasn’t as good as a New Routemaster.
- On several buses, the interior route display has not been working.
- As I don’t wear a watch, I find a non-working display annoying.
- I haven’t been upstairs yet.
- As picture numbers three and four show, the bus looks a bit pokey at the back downstairs.
But I am very suspicious about the buses’s reliability or ability to handle the route, which is fairly long.
Take this morning, when I was coming home from London Bridge station.
- There was only a 43 bus at the shared stop with the 141 bus.
- As the routes are identical until Old Street station, I took the 43 bus to Moorgate station.
- At Moorgate station, I took a 76 bus, which gets me within walking distance of where I live.
- Someone said, that a 141 bus would mean a wait of ten minutes.
- In the end my 78-year-old legs delivered be home.
I didn’t see a 141 bus going my way on my journey.
I have seen behaviour like this several times, since some Chinese electric buses were introduced on to the route.
As a graduate Electrical and Control Engineer, it looks to me, that there is one of two problems with these buses.
- The batteries aren’t large enough for the route.
- Not enough time is allowed for charging the batteries at the end of the route.
This page on the Wrightbus website is entitled Wrightbus Electroliner ‘Most Efficient Double-Deck Battery-Electric Bus’, and it contains this paragraph, which probably explains their philosophy and ambition.
We have already gained a strong reputation for our hydrogen double deck but we want to lead the world in zero-emissions full stop. Wrightbus has the best brains in the business when it comes to technology and our StreetDeck Electroliner puts us squarely at the front of the pack. We haven’t weighed the bus down with a high battery volume just so we can say it’s got the most power or range; instead, we’ve made it the most efficient vehicle on the road by combining optimum power with a class-leading rapid charge, meaning our electric bus spends more time on the road than any other.
It also probably sets a very high bar, which the Chinese can only achieve by adding battery volume and making their buses pokey.
To be fair to the buses, the 141 route is probably nearly 20 miles long.
In Sutton Station To Gatwick Airport By Hydrogen-Powered Bus, I wrote about what it says in the title.
In that post, I said this about hydrogen buses running on the 141 route.
Wrightbus Hydrogen Buses For My Local Bus Route 141
Consider.
- The 141 bus route is my local bus, which gets me to Moorgate, Bank, London Bridge and Manor House.
- The length of the full route is twenty miles and it takes about an hour to go from London Bridge station to Palmers Green.
- The route is currently run by older Wrightbus hybrid diesel-electric buses.
- I suspect that modern hydrogen buses could last almost all day on one fill of hydrogen, with perhaps a top-up at lunchtime.
They would have no difficulty handling the route and would greatly increase the customers current rock-bottom satisfaction.
I am sure, they would improve the horrendous reliability of the route.
I also wonder, if Wrightbus have another solution.
In UK Among Tri-Axle Zero-Emission Wrightbus StreetDeck Prospects, I talk about Wrightbus’s new Tri-Axle Zero-Emission Wrightbus StreetDeck bus and how it would be ideal for the 141 bus route.
- The 141 bus route is the old 641 trolleybus route, so all clearances are generous.
- The tri-axle design can probably carry a better-optimised battery.
- There used to be two bus routes on the route and now there is only one, so more capacity is needed.
- The 141 bus route bridges the gap between the Northern section of the Piccadilly Line and the Elizabeth Line, Bank and London Bridge.
- The new air-conditioned Piccadilly Line trains, will increase the passengers on the line.
- There will be a lot more housing built in Enfield, at the Northern end of the Piccadilly Line and more bus capacity will be needed between Manor House and the City of London.
Some of TfL’s rerouting of buses in North London, was a crime against mathematics.
Council Invests £16m In Hydrogen Buses
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
There are now 34 hydrogen buses on the streets of Surrey, the council has announced.
These two paragraphs add more details.
Surrey County Council (SCC) said it has invested £16m and partnered with Metrobus to provide greener commuting options.
The fleet is now made up of 23 single-deck buses and 11 double-deckers, the council said.
I wrote about a ride on one of these buses to Gatwick Airport in Sutton Station To Gatwick Airport By Hydrogen-Powered Bus.
From the comments in the article, by a Surrey County Council councillor, the council seems very pleased with their hydrogen buses.
Centrica Really Can’t Lose At Sizewell
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
Centrica’s £1.3 billion investment in Sizewell C guarantees substantial returns, even with cost overruns.
These two-and-a-half paragraphs explain the funding.
Now we know what Ed Miliband means by his “golden age of nuclear” — golden for the companies putting their money into Sizewell C. Yes, reactor projects have a habit of blowing up private investors. But maybe not this one. It looks more like an exercise in transferring risk to consumers and the taxpayer.
Sure, nobody builds a £38 billion nuke on a Suffolk flood plain without a frisson of danger. But the energy secretary and his Treasury chums have done their bit to make things as safe as possible for the companies putting in equity alongside the government’s 44.9 per cent stake: Canada’s La Caisse with 20 per cent, British Gas-owner Centrica (15 per cent), France’s EDF (12.5 per cent) and Amber Infrastructure (7.6 per cent).
For starters, nearly all the debt for the 3.2 gigawatt plant, three-quarters funded by loans, is coming from the state-backed National Wealth Fund. It’s bunging in up to £36.6 billion, with £5 billion more guaranteed by a French export credit agency.
It looks to me that between them the British and French governments are providing £41.5 billion of loans to build the £38 billion nuke.
These are my thoughts.
Hydrogen And Sizewell C
This page on the Sizewell C web site is entitled Hydrogen And Sizewell C.
Under a heading of Hydrogen Buses, this is said.
At Sizewell C, we are exploring how we can produce and use hydrogen in several ways. We are working with Wrightbus on a pilot scheme which, if successful, could see thousands of workers transported to and from site on hydrogen double decker buses. You can read more about the pilot scheme in our press release
Firstly, it could help lower emissions during construction of the power station. Secondly, once Sizewell C is operational, we hope to use some of the heat it generates (alongside electricity) to make hydrogen more efficiently.
This would appear to be a more general statement about hydrogen and that the following is planned.
- Hydrogen-powered buses will be used to bring workers to the site. A press release on the Sizewell C web site, talks about up to 150 buses. That would probably be enough buses for all of Suffolk.
- Hydrogen-powered construction equipment will be used in the building of the power station.
- It also talks about using the excess heat from the power station to make hydrogen more efficiently. I talk about this process in Westinghouse And Bloom Energy To Team Up For Pink Hydrogen.
This is a substantial investment in hydrogen.
Centrica And Electricity From Sizewell C
The article in The Times, also says this.
Even so, there’s a fair bit of protection for the likes of Centrica, which has also agreed a 20-year offtake deal for its share of Sizewell’s electricity. The price of that is not yet known.
Nothing is said in the article about the size of Centrica’s electricity offtake.
- If they get 15 % of Sizewell C, that would by 480 MW.
- If they get 15 % of Sizewell B + C, that would by 660 MW.
If they use their share to generate hydrogen, Suffolk would have a massive hydrogen hub.
To power the buses and construction of Sizewell C, Sizewell B could be used to provide electricity to create the hydrogen.
How Would The Hydrogen Be Produced?
Centrica, along with other companies, who include Hyundai and Kia, are backers of a company in Hull called HiiROC, who use a process called Thermal Plasma Electrolysis to generate hydrogen.
On their web site, they have this sub-heading.
A Transformational New Process For Affordable Clean Hydrogen
The web site also describes the process as scalable from small modular units up to industrial scale. It also says this about the costs of the system: As cheap as SMR without needing CCUS; a fraction of the energy/cost of water electrolysis.
If HiiROC have achieved their objective of scalability, then Centrica could grow their electrolyser to meet demand.
How Would The Hydrogen Be Distributed?
Consider.
- Currently, the Sizewell site has both road and rail access.
- I can still see in my mind from the 1960s, ICI’s specialist articulated Foden trucks lined up in the yard at Runcorn, taking on their cargoes of hydrogen for delivery all over the country.
- As that factory is still producing hydrogen and I can’t remember any accidents in the last sixty years, I am fairly sure that a range of suitable hydrogen trucks could be developed to deliver hydrogen by road.
- The road network to the Siewell site is being updated to ensure smooth delivery of workers and materials.
- The rail access to the Sizewell site is also being improved, for the delivery of bulk materials.
I believe there will be no problems delivering hydrogen from the Sizewell site.
I also believe that there could be scope for a special-purpose self-propelled hydrogen tanker train, which could both distribute and supply the hydrogen to the vehicles, locomotives and equipment that will be using it.
Where Will The Hydrogen Be Used?
I have lived a large part of my life in Suffolk and know the county well.
In my childhood, there was quite a lot of heavy industry, but now that has all gone and employment is based on agriculture, the Port of Felixstowe and service industries.
I can see hydrogen being used in the following industries.
Transport
Buses and heavy trucks would be powered by hydrogen.
The ports in the East of England support a large number of heavy trucks.
Large Construction Projects
Sizewell C is not the only large construction project in the East of England, that is aiming to use low-carbon construction involving hydrogen. In Gallagher Group Host Hydrogen Fuel Trial At Hermitage Quarry, I talked about a hydrogen fuel trial for the Lower Thames Crossing, that involved JCB and Ryse Hydrogen.
Hydrogen for the Lower Thames Crossing could be delivered from Sizewell by truck, down the A12.
Rail
We may not ever see hydrogen-powered passenger trains in this country, but I do believe that we could see hydrogen-powered freight locomotives.
Consider.
- The latest electro-diesel Class 99 locomotives from Stadler have a Cummins diesel engine.
- The diesel engine is used, when there is no electrification.
- Cummins have developed the technology, that allows them to convert their latest diesel engines to hydrogen or natural gas power, by changing the cylinder head and the fuel system.
- Access to the Port of Felixstowe and London Gateway needs a locomotive with a self-powered capability for the last few miles of the route.
A Class 99 locomotive converted to hydrogen would be able to run with out emitting any carbon dioxide from Felixstowe or London Gateway to Glasgow or Edinburgh.
Ports
Ports have three main uses for hydrogen.
- To power ground-handing equipment, to create a pollution-free atmosphere for port workers.
- To fuel ships of all sizes from the humblest work-boat to the largest container ships.
- There may need to be fuel for hydrogen-powered rail locomotives in the future.
There are seven ports with excellent road and/or rail connections to the Sizewell site; Felixstowe, Great Yarmouth, Harwich, Ipswich, London Gateway, Lowestoft and Tilbury.
The proposed Freeport East is also developing their own green hydrogen hub, which is described on this page on the Freeport East web site.
Airports
Airports have two main uses for hydrogen.
- To power ground-handing equipment, to create a pollution-free atmosphere for airport workers.
- In the future, there is likely to be hydrogen-powered aircraft.
There are three airports with excellent road and/or rail connections to the Sizewell site; Norwich, Southend and Stansted.
Agriculture And The Rural Economy
Agriculture and the rural economy would be difficult to decarbonise.
Consider.
- Currently, most farms would use diesel power for tractors and agricultural equipment, which is delivered by truck.
- Many rural properties are heated by propane or fuel oil, which is delivered by truck.
- Some high-energy rural businesses like blacksmiths rely on propane, which is delivered by truck.
- Electrification could be possible for some applications, but ploughing the heavy land of Suffolk, with the added weight of a battery on the tractor, would probably be a mathematical impossibility.
- JCB are developing hydrogen-powered construction equipment and already make tractors.
- Hydrogen could be delivered by truck to farms and rural properties.
- Many boilers can be converted from propoane to run on hydrogen.
I feel, that hydrogen could be the ideal fuel to decarbonise agriculture and the rural economy.
I cover this application in detail in Developing A Rural Hydrogen Network.
Exports
Consider.
- Sizewell B and Sizewell C nuclear powerstations have a combined output of 4.4 GW.
- A rough calculation shows that there is a total of 7.2 GW of wind farms planned off the Suffolk coast.
- The East Anglian Array wind farm alone is said in Wikipedia to be planned to expand to 7.2 GW.
- The Sizewell site has a high capacity connection to the National Grid.
Nuclear plus wind should keep the lights on in the East of England.
Any excess electricity could be converted into hydrogen.
This Google Map shows the location of Sizewell B in relation to Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands.
The Sizewell site is indicated by the red arrow.
The offshore oil and gas industry has used technology like single buoy moorings and coastal tankers to collect offshore natural gas for decades.
I don’t see why coastal hydrogen tankers couldn’t export excess hydrogen to places around the North Sea, who need the fuel.
It should be born in mind, that Centrica have a good reputation in doing natural gas trading. This expertise would surely be useful in hydrogen trading.
Conclusion
I believe that a hydrogen hub developed at Sizewell makes sense and I also believe that Centrica have the skills and technology to make it work.
One Of The Five Large Buses Sold In Korea This Year Is Hydrogen-Powered
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in Pulse.
These are the first three paragraphs.
Nearly one in five large buses sold in South Korea in 2025 to date has been a hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV). In response, Hyundai Motor Co. is increasingly focusing on hydrogen-powered commercial transport amid sluggish demand for hydrogen-powered passenger cars.
According to data from the Korea Automobile & Mobility Association (KAMA) and Hyundai Motor, 380 hydrogen-powered buses were sold in the first five months of 2025, out of 1,923 large buses sold overall. The market share stood at 19.8 percent, indicating a significant increase from 6 percent in 2023 and 14.4 percent the previous year.
Analysts say hydrogen power is better suited for commercial vehicles than for passenger cars. While electric vehicles work well for lighter, smaller vehicles, hydrogen-powered systems offer key advantages for larger vehicles, including longer range, shorter refueling times, and greater payload capacity.
Korea and Germany certainly have more hydrogen-powered buses than the UK.
But then we are rather lagging behind other countries in the use of hydrogen. I am certainly writing fewer hydrogen stories since the change of government.
The Hindenberg has done a wonderful job, in convincing politicians that hydrogen is dangerous.
Wrightbus Delivers More Hydrogen Buses To Germany Bringing Total To 43 – Around 130 Are Due To Be On The Roads By The End Of 2025
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Belfast Newsletter.
This is the sub-heading.
The Ballymena bus manufacturer has also opened a European service centre and spare parts warehouse in Brühl, near Cologne
These three paragraphs add detail to the story.
Northern Ireland zero-emission bus manufacturer Wrightbus has delivered 12 new hydrogen vehicles to German operator WestVerkehr GmbH.
The latest order completion of Kite Hydroliner single decks means there are now 43 hydrogen-powered buses on the streets of Germany – with around 130 due to be on the roads by the end of 2025.
WestVerkehr GmbH is based in the westernmost district of Germany, on the border with the Netherlands, and will operate the Kite Hydroliners between Heinsberg, Hückelhoven, and Erkelenz.
I always think, that if you can sell anything vehicles to the Germans, there can’t be much wrong with them.
This picture shows one of the new Wrightbus electric buses, that I ride regularly around Finsbury in London.
I was on a Chinese electric bus yesterday and there’s no doubt, that the ride in the Wrightbus product is smoother, than that of the Chinese one. Especially, when standing. The Chinese bus doesn’t even come close for ride with a New Routemaster.
London would do better, if it converted the thousand New Routemaster to zero-carbon power, rather than import a thousand Chinese buses.
In Equipmake Hybrid To Battery Powered LT11, I describe how one New Routemaster had a transmission transplant in Norfolk.
As it is possible, are Wrightbus NewPower working on it?
Wrightbus At Heart Of £6.5bn Hydrogen Mega-Project Set To Transform UK Economy
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Love Ballymena.
These are the first three paragraphs.
Ballymena’s Wrightbus is at the forefront of a transformative £6.5 billion clean hydrogen initiative that promises to create 24,300 jobs across the UK and position the nation as a global leader in renewable energy.
Project HySpeed, unveiled this week, unites some of Britain’s most influential companies—including Wrightbus, Centrica, JCB, and ITM Power—in a landmark effort to scale up green hydrogen production, reduce costs, and accelerate industrial decarbonisation.
The project is a major coup for Ballymena, where Wrightbus, a pioneer in zero-emission transport, has been a vital part of the local economy for decades. As a key member of the HydraB Power group, which spearheads HySpeed, Wrightbus brings its expertise as the producer of the world’s first hydrogen-powered double-decker bus.
I believe we need the Irish dimension in Project HySpeed, as the Irish have a unique way of getting things done.
I am reminded by a story, that I heard from a retired Guards officer about the liberation of Vienna in World War II.
The city was in a desperate state and as he hold me the story, the retired officer said that a woman could be had for the price of two cigarettes.
In the mess one evening, the officers were discussing what to do, when an Irish Guards officer said, “The people need some fun! Let’s organise a horse race meeting!”
They all thought he was joking, but that is what they did!
The guy, who told the story is long since dead, but he believed that day of fun meant that Austria wasn’t taken over by the Soviets, like so many other East European countries.
The Irish do have this unique way of getting things done.
Note that the CEO of Centrica is Chris O’Shea. Does he have Irish roots?
Wrightbus To Build 1,000 Zero-Emission Buses
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
Northern Ireland company to ramp up production by 40% and recruit hundreds more employees as it also develops the UK’’s first long-distance hydrogen coach
These are the first two paragraphs, which add more detail.
Wrightbus, the Northern Ireland bus manufacturer, could be supplying as many as 1,000 zero-emission vehicles to depots around the UK as it increases production by 40 per cent over a two-year period and takes on hundreds more workers.
The company, best known for the redesigned 21st century take on the Routemaster ordered by the former mayor of London Boris Johnson, also announced it is to spend £5 million developing the UK’s first long-distance hydrogen coach capable of travelling 1,000km (621 miles) on a single recharging of its fuel cells.
These two paragraphs describe their production and employment plans.
Jean-Marc Gales, the former senior Peugeot director who is Wrightbus’s chief executive, said production at its Northern Ireland plant would go from 1,000 vehicles last year to 1,200 this year and 1,400 in 2026.
Over the same period the company’s workforce will grow from 1,500 to 2,500.
Peter Kyle, the secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, said this.
The level of innovation at Wrightbus and their quality standards have been recognised.
That is surely rare praise for a private company from a Labour Minster.
I first wrote about Wrightbus’s new hydrogen coach in early March, when I wrote Wrightbus Goes Back To The Future As It Relaunches The Contour Coach, which was based on this Wrightbus press release, which has the same title.
I said this in my post.
Wrightbus is entering the coach market for the first time in more than 30 years with the launch of two new vehicles in the next 18 months.
The first vehicle to hit the market is the Contour, a low-emission 55-seater coach that was launched at a customer showcase event today (March 5).
It’s a case of back to the future for Wrightbus, which last produced a Contour coach in 1987 before retiring the vehicle.
The second vehicle, a zero-emission hydrogen coach – which is under development in Ballymena, Northern Ireland – will be added to the Wrightbus coach range within the next 18 months to help drive decarbonisation of the sector.
The low emission Contour has a lead time of just six months from order, which is considerably faster than the current one-to-two-year average wait customers have come to expect from the sector. Featuring a Cummins Euro 6 400BHP X11 engine and a ZF automatic gearbox, the modern-day Contour has been built with comfort in mind, with up to 55 reclining seats – each with its own USB port – alongside other modern safety features. Competitively priced and available with or without PSVAR compliance, there is also the option of the vehicle being ‘pre-prepared’, protecting the vehicle’s ‘second life’ and flexibility.
The coach has a range of bespoke options for customers to choose from and is designed to maximise luggage space and functionality.
The low emission Contour coach was to have been built in China.
But events have moved on fast in the last month, with Trump and China trading insults on tariffs almost daily.
From today’s article in The Times and a press release from the Government, which is entitled Science Secretary Hails Wrightbus As Company Pledges £25 million To Bolster UK’s Green Transport Revolution And Drive Growth, it appears that the Chinese coach has been dropped.
Could the plan now be something like this?
- The low emission Contour coach will either be dropped, built in Ballymena or perhaps even built on JCB’s site in Texas.
- It might possibly be advantageous to build the coach in the United States to balance the tariffs and target the North American market.
- I would feel, that North America could be a lucrative market for the larger thousand kilometre coach.
- With the low emission Contour coach, Cummins get a chance to show the United States their excellent hydrogen technology.
- Trump can claim, that he’s brought jobs back to the United States.
- If Wrightbus and/or JCB build the low emission Contour coach, they could probably create a better product and get it to market earlier.
I suspect we’ll learn more of Wrightbus’s plans in the next few weeks.
Is This The Ultimate Tourist Bus?
This picture clipped from the Wrightbus web site, shows one of their latest products – An open-top electric tourist bus.
It appears to be running in Glasgow.
But if I was in charge of tourism, I’d get a hydrogen-powered version, as that would surely attract the punters.
Wrightbus Hydrogen Buses Trial Begins At Sizewell C
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Route One.
This is the sub-heading.
An order of 150 more StreetDeck Hydroliners, plus battery-electrics, could follow, says the manufacturer
These three paragraphs give more details.
A trial of four Wrightbus StreetDeck Hydroliner hydrogen fuel cell-electric buses at Sizewell C nuclear power plant in Suffolk was launched this week.
The three double-deckers and one single-decker are transporting workers at the under-construction site to test operational performance of the clean technology.
Wrightbus says a successful pilot scheme could lead to an order of 150 hydrogen buses from Sizewell, which would represent the UK largest fleet using that technology.
These zero-carbon buses are to ensure that transporting workers to the site for the project, has the lowest possible carbon footprint.
Gatwick Airport South Terminal Bus Station
These pictures show the bus station at Gatwick Airport’s South Terminal
Note.
- It is in two separate sections (Northbound and Southbound) on either side of a fairly busy dual carriageway.
- This is the bus station in the South Terminal for Metrobus local services.
- Most of these pictures were taken on the Southbound side, with the last four looking down from the terminal.
- The information displays were clear and easy to understand.
- Access to the terminal and the train station was via lifts and a pair of travelators.
- About 80 % of the buses I saw were hydrogen-powered.
It did look as if it had been designed by an architect, who was more used to designing rudimentory rural tram stops or train stations.
This page on the London Gatwick web site gives more details of Coaches and Buses at Gatwick Airport.
The Anonymous Widower 